New Evidence for the Permian Exctinction

Researchers from Ohio State University using data from NASA’s GRACE satellites believe they have discovered a 300 mile wide crater beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet that is thought to be roughly 250 million years old, roughly the age of the Permian – Triassic “Great Dying” event.

A rift zone within Indian Ocean cuts through the center of the suspected crater (due to the impact) and researchers believe it may have influenced the formation of Australia nearly 100 million years ago when it broke off from Gondwanaland (see our recent post on why continents form).